I went to a panel discussion with DB Weiss and David Benioff the other night about the show. I guess I have nothing really of interest to say, but it was cool to get insight into their decision process when it came to adapting the books.

There wasn't really a particular juicy tidbit, but they did talk about a few things:

-- They chose to portray Cersei in the manner they did because Lena Headey's audition stood out, and they thought the character would benefit from being less of an ice queen.

-- The famous Littlefinger hooker scene from season one was actually not meant to be part of the show at all. It was just an audition seen for Aiden Gillam, but he nailed it, so they incorporated it. Littlefingers character is featured more because they love the actor.

-- Martin's wife made mention that there's one character he won't kill off simply because she's her fav. But then when they made mention of this to George, he scoffed and said "oh, thats just what i told her."

-- Diane Rigg refers to them as naughty little boys.

-- Their scripts often come in really short so they fill them with interesting convos between characters they like (part of the reason for the Arya/Tywin scenes that aren't featured in the book.)

-- The rumor that George told them the ending is true. And they often consult with him about the future to make sure they don't kill off any characters that play an important role in the future.

It was just an interesting discussion about adaptation from books to screen, how much they have to cut out, how they decided to change things here and there.

Great stuff. I've listened to several GRRM discussions where he talks about how there are certain "butterfly effect" issues that D&D have to solve. For some reason, I've always thought something more would be of Patchface, so their decision to leave him out entirely is interesting to me. I think he'd have been a huge hit if done right, or a huge flop if not. For whatever reason, I've always thought Patchface would turn out to be some form of "Hodor" to the little princess that was important to the story.

They were talking about what a challenge the pilot was to make, to get tone and all the characters down. In fact, the first cut of the pilot (or maybe it was just the first shooting draft of the script, cant recall) was lost on a lot of people because they forgot to mention Jaime and Cersei were brother and sister. So people were like "wait, why is it a big deal that they had sex?"

There wasn't really a particular juicy tidbit, but they did talk about a few things:

-- They chose to portray Cersei in the manner they did because Lena Headey's audition stood out, and they thought the character would benefit from being less of an ice queen.

-- The famous Littlefinger hooker scene from season one was actually not meant to be part of the show at all. It was just an audition seen for Aiden Gillam, but he nailed it, so they incorporated it. Littlefingers character is featured more because they love the actor.

-- Martin's wife made mention that there's one character he won't kill off simply because she's her fav. But then when they made mention of this to George, he scoffed and said "oh, thats just what i told her."

-- Diane Rigg refers to them as naughty little boys.

-- Their scripts often come in really short so they fill them with interesting convos between characters they like (part of the reason for the Arya/Tywin scenes that aren't featured in the book.)

-- The rumor that George told them the ending is true. And they often consult with him about the future to make sure they don't kill off any characters that play an important role in the future.

It was just an interesting discussion about adaptation from books to screen, how much they have to cut out, how they decided to change things here and there.

fascinating. it doesn't tell a ton but it offers a lot of insight into the how's and why's.

Great stuff. I've listened to several GRRM discussions where he talks about how there are certain "butterfly effect" issues that D&D have to solve. For some reason, I've always thought something more would be of Patchface, so their decision to leave him out entirely is interesting to me. I think he'd have been a huge hit if done right, or a huge flop if not. For whatever reason, I've always thought Patchface would turn out to be some form of "Hodor" to the little princess that was important to the story.

I suspect one of the big "butterfly effect" issues is the killing of Mago in the first season. From his interviews, GRRM has indicated that Mago would play a significant role in the upcoming 6th novel. It will be interesting to see how the show runners work around that plot point.

I suspect one of the big "butterfly effect" issues is the killing of Mago in the first season. From his interviews, GRRM has indicated that Mago would play a significant role in the upcoming 6th novel. It will be interesting to see how the show runners work around that plot point.

Martin himself wrote the script for the season one episode "the pointy end", in which Drogo kills Mago. If he didn't want him dead, maybe he shouldn't have killed him.

Martin himself wrote the script for the season one episode "the pointy end", in which Drogo kills Mago. If he didn't want him dead, maybe he shouldn't have killed him.

I get the feeling that GRRM's vision of the ending has changed several times since they started plotting out the series. The concern I have until the Winds of Winter is released, is whether it will stay a TV series based on a book or become a set of books inspired by a TV series.

Considering he is going to waste time creating a book about his favorite sayings and quotes of Tyrion, I don't have much faith in Martin delivering a high quality ending.

^
Honestly, I'll just be happy if Martin can finish this thing before he kicks the bucket. He's old, in bad shape, and has had health problems on and off for years, though nothing overly serious.

Five years between books sucks. I'm not sure he has ten years left, and he's notorious for over-writing anyway. What started out as a trilogy is now at least 7 books, and I have serious doubts he'll be able to finish the series in two more books. This thing could easily go to 10 books like Sword of Truth or Wheel of Time.

One of the things I loved about the last episode was the sword fight was done in a very authentic way. Not prissy fencing crap (which would never work with longswords, hand and a half, etc.). Just two men going at it, using their swords almost as much like clubs as edged weapons.

They can work around that easily enough. He was just locked in a vault. Plenty of ways he could have escaped and it would actually play into the antagonistic relation he has developed with Daenerys since book 2.

I take it that means GRRM hasn't always been happy with some of the changes then?

Every interview I've read he says he's very happy. He's got a lot of roots in television, so he's very aware of sacrifices that have to be made along the way due to the constraints of television production. He says he sees them as two very different things, and he enjoys watching the adaption. His biggest gripe that I've heard, are that scenes that he thought would make the cut weren't included for one reason or another, even though the were shot or read during casting. But he says it's a small gripe. Overall, he's very pleased with the outcome so far.

He has to be ecstatic with the show so far. The Sword of Truth fantasy series, which is arguably just as good as Song of Ice and Fire, was made into a TV show and sucked ass. They changed too much, made it episodic, and made what was a heavy R rated series into a PG one.

This is by far the best fantasy adaptation for TV I've ever seen. It's not even remotely close. I remember when Martin announced he was in talks with HBO, I thought there was no way they could pull this off, HBO or not. Everytime I watch the show now, I'm just amazed. The casting is so spot on, the scripts are great and they are actually sticking to the books pretty heavily.

I'm just amazed it all came together so well, and I'm probably more amazed that mainstream folks are watching fantasy in record numbers.

One of the things I loved about the last episode was the sword fight was done in a very authentic way. Not prissy fencing crap (which would never work with longswords, hand and a half, etc.). Just two men going at it, using their swords almost as much like clubs as edged weapons.

Absolutely hate TV, but this show is just balls to the wall awesome. I finished up the second season this weekend and was blown away. I fell asleep during two episodes (because it was like 2 AM) and I couldn't go onto the next ones (I tried) without refinishing the others. Just so much info. So awesome. Lovely boobs. Cute ladies. People just murking. This show has it all. Could be the greatest of all time.